The Policy Constraints of Deficit Reduction: President Clinton's 1995 Budget

The federal budgeting process is now limited by deficit reduction policy constraints. This article examines the FY 1995 budget requests within the context of long term budget trends, changes in the federal budget process, and the recently established political and fiscal budget constraints. It further examines enactment of the Omnibus Budget Enforcement Act of 1993, the policy changes it contained, and its further tinkering with the process of budgeting. Finally the article evaluates the first budgeting process of the Clinton administration and their initiatives in deficit reduction following these policy constraints.     

Wanted and Unwanted Sexual Experiences and Family Dysfunction During Adolescence

The goal of this study was to examine the relationship between family dysfunction and wanted, unwanted, and illegal sexual experiences that occurred during childhood and adolescence. Three hundred fifty-three subjects from a sexual abuse clinic, a family practice clinic, and a family planning clinic anonymously completed a survey on childhood sexual experiences and physical violence, family substance abuse, violence toward others, and family quality. Overall, 50% had had unwanted (USE) and wanted sexual experiences (WSE) before they turned 18. Subjects in the sexual abuse clinic had the highest percentage (90%) of unwanted or illegal sexual experiences, followed by the family planning subjects (40%) and the family practice subjects (30%). Both USE and WSE were related to family dysfunction scores, even when they were controlled for demographic influences. Family dysfunction scores were highest for those who reported USE and legal WSE and were lowest for those who reported no USE or WSE.     

Ethnicity and adjustment: A study of the self-image of Anglo-, Greek-, and Italian-Australian working class adolescents

Two measures of adjustment, the Erikson Psychosocial Stage Inventory and the Offer Self-Image Questionnaire, were administered to a sample of 450 working class Anglo-, Greek-, and Italian-Australian adolescents in years 9 and 11 of 9 Melbourne high schools. Anglo- and Greek-Australian adolescents scored similarly and significantly higher than Italian-Australians on a number of subscales, suggesting that culture conflict may be an influential factor in the adjustment of Italian-Australians, but not Greek-Australians. Significant differences between the minority groups, in favor of Greek-Australians, were interpreted as resulting from the relative differences in institutional support for and press toward assimilation of the two groups.     

Validities and abilities in criminal profiling: a critique of the studies conducted by Richard Kocsis and his colleagues

In a recent issue of this journal, Kocsis reviewed the criminal profiling research that he and his colleagues have conducted during the past 4 years. Their research examines the correlates of profile accuracy with respect to the skills of the individual constructing the profile, and it has led Kocsis to draw conclusions that are important to the profiling field. In this article, the authors review the contributions of the Kocsis studies and critique their methodological and conceptual foundations. The authors raise a number of concerns and argue that data from the Kocsis studies fail to support many of the conclusions presented in his recent review. The authors present evidence in support of their assertions and provide recommendations that will allow future research in the area to generate data that are more meaningful and generalizable.